Story Notes: Nightmare Night · 5:28am Nov 9th, 2022
Once again, we find ourselves on the eve of an election, and once again I decided to surpress the urge to do something political. You know, like Sunset Shimmer declares herself God-Empress of the United States.
Once again, I decided that what we really needed was something cute and firey fluffy. Nothing is cuter and fluffier than a kirin, and that's an actual fact.
There is (was) in fact a Spirit Halloween in Lansing that's in a former farm/home supply store that was a Sam's Club. I don't remember when the Sam's Club closed, but I do know that the farm/home supply store opened just in time for the pandemic, which is one of those things that can't really be foreseen.
I visited it with one of our clients a few weeks back, and the interior is more or less as described, since they certainly didn't need all the space a vacant Sam's Club had to offer. I don't need to tell you, but all the costumes described are really for sale by Spirit Halloween with the possible exception of the Phantom half-mask. I had to include that, because
Besides musicals, ponies (and kirin) also love 80s power ballads. That's my headcanon, and now it's yours too.
Did I mention Cinder Glow is adorable? 'Cause she is.
Just remember to not let kirin help decorate the Christmas tree. . . .
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Also before I have to publish a second blog post listing the things I forgot to list 'cause I got distracted by cute Cinder Glow pictures . . .
Equines can eat pumpkins, although it's best to give them only small slices.
According to the internet, there are in fact full-sized Mr. Goodbars, and the confection is nearly a hundred years old (invented in 1925). I have never seen a full-size Mr. Goodbar.
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Maybe they'd want a Canary island pine tree? Or one of those metal wire sculpture ones.
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More space to hang things from.
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Yeah, but think of the chestnuts.
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Hmm... I can always learn something new.
In my youth, my grandfather used to say that it was better not to give a pumpkin to a horse, otherwise her stomach might get sick. And if you treat her with apples, it is advisable to cut them in half.
Also, horses perfectly eat watermelons, or rather watermelon rind, because for some reason they do not like such sweet pulp.
Which means you have only ever seen Mr. Badbar.
So much kirin loveliness.
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Mr. Mediocrebar?
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I did not know until just now that those are the most fire-resistant pine trees. That would be a good choice.
Also a good choice. I actually really like those; my grandma had one with leaves on it (about the size of a charm for a charm bracelet).
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That's a good way to look at it. Plus they don't have to worry as much about the tree catching fire, since it already has.
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From my source (Michigan State University), they do suggest only giving small portions and nothing which the horse might choke on (such as the stem). I do know that horses have digestive systems that are prone to problems, and any new food or treat should be given in moderation to avoid possible issues. Probably cutting apples up is also to avoid the possibility of choking, or maybe to make them easier to bite into (one flat surface vs. completely round).
I would imagine that their preference for the rind is the nutrients they like or what they can taste and what they can't. On one horse channel I watch, he sometimes fed watermelon wedges when it was hot, but he'd salt them, too which I imagine made them more appealing.
Still, if you eat the sweet flesh and the pony eats the rind, it's a great way to avoid food waste, and everybody gets what they want.
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I live in America; to anybody who understands chocolate every bar is Mr. Badbar.
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Thank you!
Have another adorable Cinder Glow:
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A plain Hershey bar, unless on a s'more.
"You going to go to Friendship School? Oh, great, I call Mark Zuckerburg--'Hello Mark Zuckerburg, you hiring kirin with BA in Friendship?...uh huh...Okay thank you"--yeah he say they already hire all the FAILURE they need!..."
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At least right now Facebook's failures are taking a back seat to Elmo's Twitter disaster. If anything needed the cleansing power of fire. . . .
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I had forgotten that Kingdom of Loathing joke. Most people have, seeing as the item is as useless as you'd expect it to be.
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Both reasons at the same time. Cultivated apple varieties are mostly too large and smooth. A whole apple is difficult for a horse to hold and chew normally, it can really choke.
Of course! And personally, it seems to me that at least half of the horse's pleasure from a treat is to crunch. Crunch carrots, crunch watermelon rind, etc.
Although maybe I'm wrong... It is somehow impossible to get directly into the horse's head and read its thoughts.
Cinder Glow is mighty cute.
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I suppose the horse doesn't care how it's presented. I doubt I could manage a whole apple if I didn't have hands to hold it with, maybe I'll experiment with that some day. Based on comments on Discord, I was able to determine that one could eat Taco Bell food without using hands.
Like, I know the obvious thoughts, at least as they've been presented to my by people who know stuff about horses. But what do they enjoy? Sounds that they like? Ones that they don't? Is a treat better if it's crunchy or is it more the flavors of it and the chewing part is what it is? Would they like the same treat if it was presented in a different form?
It's not exactly the same, but I work part-time with developmentally disabled adults, and one of the guys I sometimes work with is really food-motivated. One time I had some chocolate-mint sticks which I thought he'd like, so I offered him one. He didn't know what it was, and he didn't really want it, until I used sign language to tell him to eat it. Once he had, he really liked the flavor and wanted more.
I also discovered that he has sensitive teeth and doesn't like cold things. We'd offer him yogurt for snacks sometimes and he wouldn't eat it, but when I got the idea to microwave it to make it warm, he loved it.
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She is. If we leave Autumn Blaze out of the equation, I think she's the cutest of the kirin.
Fun fact, she's also the one who asked for her voice back first in the kirin episode.
Cool and interesting headcanon/notes.